ages, taken from the "Guy of Warwick"
romance, there is no book in English from which this one has
been translated. As for the translation into Portuguese, there
is no book about Tirant in that language. So why does Martorell
tell us all this? (Although, as we have noted, other novels of
chivalry speak of themselves as "translations", all were printed
after the publication of Tirant lo Blanc.) Is this novel then,
which Cervantes so admired, also presenting us with a "true
history" which has been "translated" in a way similar to the
Quixote? Within Tirant lo Blanc we also find allusions to
historians who have "originally" set these words down. For
example: "Here the book returns to the emperor..."
"Hippolytus... performed singular acts of chivalry which this
book does not relate, but defers to the books that were written
about him." Is there any difference between this and the
statements of Cervantes about his characters? ("Here Cide Hamete
Benengeli leaves him for an instant and returns to Don
Quixot